diff -urN a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt	2015-12-04 22:59:30.000000000 +0100
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt	2016-01-18 10:39:12.056321760 +0100
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@
 pkg_check_modules(ORC REQUIRED orc-0.4)
 ENDIF(NOT MINGW)
 
-#FIND_PACKAGE(LibRaw 0.13 REQUIRED)
-#pkg_check_modules(LIBRAW REQUIRED libraw)
+FIND_PACKAGE(LibRaw 0.13 REQUIRED)
+pkg_check_modules(LIBRAW REQUIRED libraw)
 
 #find_package (LibXML++ REQUIRED)
 #pkg_check_modules(LIBXML REQUIRED libxml++-2.6) 
diff -urN a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt	2015-12-04 22:59:30.000000000 +0100
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt	2016-01-18 10:43:00.400850307 +0100
@@ -51,9 +52,10 @@
 include_directories(${SIGC2_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 link_directories(${SIGC2_LIBRARY_DIRS})
 
-
-include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external)
-include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/external/LibRaw)
+if(LIBRAW_FOUND)
+  link_directories( ${LIBRAW_LIBRARY_DIRS}  )
+  include_directories( ${LIBRAW_INCLUDE_DIRS}  )  
+endif()
 
 #if(LENSFUN_FOUND)
 #  link_directories( ${LENSFUN_LIBRARY_DIRS}  )
@@ -140,18 +142,6 @@
 FILE(GLOB OpIncludes operations/*.hh operations/gmic/*.hh)
 FILE(GLOB OpSources operations/*.cc operations/gmic/*.cc)
 
-#
-# the libraw part is a bit of a hack:
-# the static linking didn't work since it was pulling -lstdc++ and -lm into linker flags.
-# so we do a custom dependency and pretend an imported liblibraw_r.a so no other -l are
-# appended.
-#
-add_library(libraw_static STATIC IMPORTED)
-set_target_properties(libraw_static PROPERTIES IMPORTED_LOCATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/external/LibRaw/liblibraw_r.a)
-add_subdirectory(external/LibRaw)
-list(APPEND LIB_DEPS libraw_r)
-list(APPEND STATIC_LIBS libraw_static)
-
 LIST(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH " ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/external/lensfun/cmake/modules ")
 set(BUILD_STATIC "ON")
 add_library(lensfun_static STATIC IMPORTED)
@@ -233,7 +223,7 @@
   ${GOBJECT_LIBRARIES} 
   ${GTHREAD_LIBRARIES} 
   ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES}
-  #${LIBRAW_LIBRARIES}  
+  ${LIBRAW_LIBRARIES}  
   ${STATIC_LIBS}
   ${ORC_LIBRARIES}
   fftw3
@@ -267,7 +257,7 @@
   ${GOBJECT_LIBRARIES} 
   ${GTHREAD_LIBRARIES} 
   ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES}
-  #${LIBRAW_LIBRARIES}  
+  ${LIBRAW_LIBRARIES}  
   ${STATIC_LIBS}
   ${ORC_LIBRARIES}
   fftw3